Quality Assurance in Dialysis

Description

In examining the preface of our first book, it is increases needed. The Deming philosophy empha­ apparent that the editorial comments made in sizes that quality is never fully achieved: process 1994 are even more pertinent in today's cost- improvement is never ending. constrained healthcare environment than when But, what is quality? Without defining, David first written. We repeat them in part. Garvin makes the point that "in its original form, This is a time in history when the concept of quality activities were reactive and inspecti- quality is reaching new highs in terms of public oriented; today, quality related activities have awareness. Articles describing quality, CQI, qual­ broadened and are seen as essential for strategic ity tools, critical success factors, failures, and success" [1]. How can the broad context of quality lessons learned appear in local newspapers, trade be applied to the diverse aspects of ESRD? journals, scientific periodicals, and professional Furthermore, although far from a new concept, publications on a daily basis, yet implementation Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI) has taken of a quality system in many hospital units is its place as a dominant theme in many industries. approached with caution and the basic tenants of CQI is more broadly applicable, both in concept quality systems and CQI continue to be misunder­ and execution, to service as well as manufacturi- stood. based operations. Front Matter....Pages i-x Evidence-based medicine as a strategy for improving the quality of clinical decision making for dialysis patients....Pages 1-6 A continuous quality improvement paradigm for health care networks....Pages 7-26 Process for initiating and maintaining continuous quality improvement in the ESRD setting....Pages 27-38 Choice of statistical models for assessing the clinical outcomes of the efforts to provide high quality care for the ESRD patient....Pages 39-54 Assigning severity indices to outcomes....Pages 55-60 The role of quality assurance in preventing legal actions....Pages 61-72 Quality Criteria for the Clinical Record....Pages 73-80 The impact of global vigilance reporting requirements on the quality of dialysis products and services....Pages 81-92 Regulatory environment and government impact on the quality of dialysis products....Pages 93-104 Global spectrum of quality assurance in the provision of dialysis....Pages 105-109 Clinical Quality of the Patient at Onset of Dialysis Treatment....Pages 111-123 Patient and Therapy Perspectives: Choosing the Patient “Is better Worse?”....Pages 125-131 Quality of care in the pre-ESRD period; impact on survival in the first year of dialysis....Pages 133-142 Quality of life assurance in hemodialysis....Pages 143-154 Hemodialysis in the home and its impact on quality of life....Pages 155-162 Selection of adequacy criteria models for hemodialysis....Pages 163-172 Water treatment for hemodialysis....Pages 173-187 Reuse of dialyzers — implications for adequacy of dialysis....Pages 189-198 The impact of membrane selection on quality assurance in dialysis....Pages 199-213 Selection of transport parameters in judging membrane performance....Pages 215-222 Quality in peritoneal dialysis: achieving improving outcomes....Pages 223-243 The critical role of prescription management in a peritoneal dialysis program....Pages 245-256 Criteria for biocompatibility testing of peritoneal dialysis solutions....Pages 257-265 The Impact of Sterilization Methods on the Quality of Peritoneal Dialysis Solutions....Pages 267-273 Quality assurance in the treatment of acute renal failure....Pages 275-284 Quality assurance in renal transplantation....Pages 285-297 Back Matter....Pages 299-303